U.S. FUJITSU READY TO ROLL: Eight top U.S. amateurs have qualified for the 2005 Fujit su Tournament, the winner of which will represent the U.S. at the Fujits u tournament in Japan later this year. The U.S. tournament will be pla yed in three online rounds on the IGS, beginning this weekend. The players are Hui Ren Yang, Thomas Hsiang, Yuan Zhou, I-Han Lui, Dae Yol Kim, Zhaonia n Chen, Eric Lui, and Yong Chen. AGA Tournament Coordinator Joe Carl is co ordinating the event. Stay tuned for more details.

CHAPTERS TEAM LEAGUE FORMS: With over $1,000 in prizes, the AGA Chapters Team League is now accepting sign-ups, reports League organizer Bill Saltman. "All you need are two willing co-conspirators to form a team," says Saltman, "and th ey do not necessarily have to be from your own chapter. You can form a tea m with two buddies from anywhere within the ranks of the AGA." Find out mo re and sign up at http://www.usgo.org/index.asp by following the Leagu e links. "There are even prizes for just being among the first few teams t o sign up and finish a dozen matches," adds Saltman, "Win or lose, there's s omething for everyone."

ROBBINS CLOSING ON MOST GAMES RECORD: T he indefatigable Chuck Robbins logged over 1,500 miles this weekend to play in tournaments in Columbus, OH and Boston, MA in his quest to snatch the Mos t Games record from Steve Barbieri. Robbins has held the Most Events recor d for the last six years (his 25 tournaments played in last year far outpace d the nearest competitor's 14) but he ended 2004 16 games off Barbieri's 875 tournament games from 1991-2004. But with four events and 13 games alread y this month, Robbins, who directs and assist with many tournaments, is clea rly looking to lock up both categories for 2005 (he's also well-known as the creator/developer of both the popular WinTD tournament pairing program and MasterGo game database software). Look for a full run-down in the forthcom ing American Go Yearbook of the top 50 players for Most Games/Events for 200 4 and for 1991-2004.

COBB STEPS DOWN FROM BOARD: Citing his in ability "to fulfill the responsibility of being a member of the Board effect ively," Bill Cobb has resigned from the Board of Directors of the American G o Association. "I wish the Board the best of luck," said Cobb in his Janua ry 13 letter, "and will continue to promote and support the AGA in every way I can." Cobb, something of a go Renaissance man, teaches go, has authored several go books (including the widely available "The Book of Go"), runs th e Richmond (VA) go club, is a principal of the Slate & Shell go publishi ng company, and serves as Assistant Editor for the American Go E-Journal and the annual American Go Yearbook, where his popular "Empty Board" column app ears (a collection of which is due out this Spring). "I am saddened by Bil l's resignation," said AGA President Mike Lash, "he was supportive and respo nsive, and a highly valuable member of the Board. I have no doubt he will continue to serve the AGA in other ways that are equally valuable to the mem bership."

NEW GO COMIC DEBUTS ONLINE: A new weekly go comic by Justin Carmical 26k is now appearing online at http://makinglife.csgo.org The comic will be updated every Monday afternoon and the first three comics are up until the next update on January 24th. The clean-up and lett ering is done by Brad Edwards; both Carmical and Edwards are members of the Springs Go Club in Colorado: http://csgo.org/

NINE GO RESOLUTIO NS: Six New Year's go resolutions (A Go Player's New Year's Resolutions 1/10 /04 EJ) weren't enough for reader Justin Carmical, who came up with nine of his own: To update my new weekly go comic (see "New Go Comic" above) to make 15 kyu by the 2005 Congress; to practice tesuji at least 3 times a week for 15-20 minutes; to attend my go club at least 3 times a month; to play in al l the seasonal Denver tournaments; to attend at least one Janice Kim lecture ; to play at least 5 live games a week; to start a monthly go game night at the local hobby and game store; to get at least 12 more local people interes ted in go. What are your Go Resolutions for the New Year? Email us at jo urnal@usgo.org

NEVER TOO LATE TO TAKE THE SHODAN CHALLENGE: "I was challenging myself to go up level by level, but when I read about the s hodan challenge, I realized that that is what I really want," writes 16k Kar en Plomp, one of three brand-new Shodan Challengers this week. "So instead of the KGS 15k goal I had last week, I have changed my goal to 1d." Karen is joined by Darin Stewart and Michael Lester, for a total of 17 Shodan Cha llengers. "I am interested in the Shodan Challenge because I want to impro ve my 20 kyu ranking," says Lester. "I like a challenge, and the Shodan Ch allenge seems a unique and rare opportunity to do improve in an AGA program designed to do just that. I think the Shodan Challenge is a good way for t he AGA to promote go and engage its kyu membership for the ultimate benefit of the great and wonderful game of go and go players everywhere." Both Plo mp and Lester rediscovered go recently after many years away from the game. The E-Journal is following the progress of each Shodan Challenger and has a rranged for professional game analysis to help the Shodan Challengers improv e their games. See photos of some of the Challengers at http://www.usgo.org/ photos/ Want to take the Shodan Challenge? Email us toda y at journal@usgo.org

YOUR MOVE: Readers Write THE GO MASTERS: "I've never heard about the film "The Masters of Go" (A Go Play er's New Year's Resolutions, 1/10/04)," writes Murilo Queiroz from Brazil, " and I didn't find anything on IMDB (the Internet Movie Database). Could yo u please give me more information about it?" The actual title of the film is "The Go Masters"; it's in IMDB under that title (or Mikan no taikyoku , t he original language title). ATLANTA U PDATE: "The contact info for the Atlanta Go group appears to be out of date, " writes Terry McIntyre, "Do you have any information about whether the grou p still meets?" Jeff Kerlagon runs the GA Tech club in Atlanta and can be reached at kerlagon@bellsouth.net ENO UGH KATO? "Okay, we know Kato is gone. Very sad," writes one E-Journal r eader. "But, enough is enough. New go players don't know who he is. Th ey don't much care, either. The Web is all about what's new. The average attention span is measured in seconds. It's not measured in weeks, or eve n days. So let's keep making the AGA homepage new! There should be a new p hoto every week." EDITOR'S NOTE: As one of the top go players of our time, director of the Nihon Ki-in and President of the International Go Federatio n, we felt that Kato Masao 9P more than earned an extra week on the AGA's ho mepage in the wake of his tragic and untimely death December 30. We hope t hat our special E-Journal report and website coverage helped more readers an d visitors learn who Kato Masao sensei was, and are sure they do not begrudg e the few extra days his image graced our website. For the record, we shou ld note that since initiating the weekly homepage photos just over a year ag o, the volunteer website staff has done a superb job finding and posting new go photos each week. If you've got one you'd like considered for publicat ion, please send it to us at journal@usgo.org

P ARK YUONGHOON WINS ZHONGHUAN CUP: Park Yuonghoon 9p of Korea defeated O Riss ei 9p, who was playing for Taiwan, to win the first international Zhonghuan Cup, winning by resignation with White. O Rissei got to the finals by defe ating Lee Changho 9p of Korea for the first time in his career, winning by a half point with Black, after defeating Kato Masao 9p of Japan in the first round. Park defeated Yamashita Keigo 9p in the semifinals. This internat ional tournament is sponsored by JP Morgan and Zhonghuan and was organized b y the Taiwan Kiin. Rin Kaiho 9p and Cho U 9p also played for Taiwan in thi s tournament, both losing in the first round. Lin Zhihan 7p of Taiwan defe ated Song Taekon 7p of Korea in the first round, but lost to Yamashita Keigo 9p of Japan in the second round. You can download all the game records at http: //igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/zc2.html . Park also won the latest Fujitsu cup, so this is his second current international title.

HANE TAKES FIRST GAME IN KISEI TITLE MATCH: In the first game of th e 29th Kisei title match in Japan, Hane Naoki 9p defeated the challenger Yuk i Satoshi 9p by resignation after only 132 moves. The game began with a ra re and dangerous opening, but Hane won the game by making a large capture in the middle game. You can download the game record at http://www.go4go.net/e nglish/bytournament2.jsp?id=3D13 . Yuki is the first challenger from the Kansai Kiin for the Kisei title. Pictures and career highlights o f Yuki can be found at http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?nam e=3DYuki Satoshi . Yuki is four years older than Hane, who is not ye t thirty. Hane also currently holds the Okan title. The second game in t he Kisei title match will be on January 26th and 27th.

THE BIG MONEY WINNERS IN 2004: Go Game World reports that the top ten pro money winn ers in 2004 were: First, Cho U 9p of Japan, with a total of $1.04 million US (Cho won the Honinbo, the Meijin, and the Oza, and was the challenger for the Judan). Second, Hane Naoki 9p of Japan with about $646,000 US. Thir d, Yamashita Keigo 9p of Japan, about $524,000. Fourth, Yoda Norimoto 9p o f Japan with about $519,000. Fifth, the first non-Japanese, Lee Changho 9p of Korea with about $496,000 (key for Lee was winning the international Ing Cup which has a prize of $400,000). Sixth, Lee Sedol 9p also of Korea wit h a total of about $334,000 (Lee S. won two international tournaments in 2 004: the Samsung and the Toyota-Denzo World Oza). Seventh, O Rissei 9p of Japan with about $318,000. Eighth, Kobayashi Koichi 9p of Japan, about $29 7,000. Ninth, O Meien 9p of Japan, about $232,000. And tenth, Gu Li 7p, the only Chinese to make the top ten list, about $213,000 (Gu won two intern ational matches, the China-Japan Agon against Kato Masao 9p and the China-Ko rea Tengen against Choi Cheolhan 9p).

OTHER PRO NEWS: In Japan: In the Shinjin O "New Stars" tournament, Kobayashi Izumi 6p has defeated Ku bota Masaru 2p to gain a second round match against Fujii Shuuya 6p and Suzu ki Ayumi 3p (recently defeated by Jie Li 9d of the US in the Seimitsu Cup) h as defeated Ohasi Hirofumi 3p. Aoki Kikuyo 8p defeated Chinen Kaori, curre nt Women's Honinbo, to reach the finals against Koyama Terumi 5p in the chal lenger's tournament for the Women's Meijin title; Kobayashi Izumi is the cur rent Women's Meijin. Takao Shinji 8p has moved into the lead in the Honinb o League with a 4-0 record. In Korea: Lee Sedol 9p defeated Park Yeonghoon 9p of Korea (who just won the Zhonghuan Cup) to reach the finals against Ya ng Jaeho 9p in the 6th Maxim Cup. In Taiwan: In the 4th Taiwan Kiin Cup le ague, Peng Jinghua 6p has the lead with a 5-2 record and no more games to pl ay. Close behind are Lin Zhihan 7p with a 4-1 record and Xiao Zhenghao 3p with a record of 4-0. In the 5th CMC TV Cup, Lin Zhihan and Chen Yida, cur rent holder of the title, have reached the finals in the winner's bracket.

PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING a>: The Youngest Korean 9P & nbsp; Since winning two major international titles in the last year while st ill a teenager, everyone will agree that Park Yuonghoon 9p (also spelled Pak Yeonghun) is an up and coming young Korean star. Born on April 1, 1985, h e became a pro in 1999 and won the Chunwon title two years later he. His i mmediate predecessors in this title were Lee Sedol 9p and Lee Changho 9p. At the age of 17, Park reached the quarterfinals in the international Fujits u Cup, and the next year lost in the finals of the international Samsung Cup to Cho Chikun 9p of Japan. Then he became the second youngest world title winner ever by taking the Fujitsu title in 2004, defeating Yoda Norimoto 9p of Japan. (Lee Changho 9p was the youngest, winning a world title at the age of 16.) Park was promoted to 9p as a result of this win, making him th e youngest 9p in Korean history and also setting a speed record by reaching that rank in only five years. He has also just won the 1st Zhonghuon Cup, in January 2005, a major new international tournament supported by JP Morgan with players invited from Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan. Park has a rep utation of having a very strong endgame, reputedly even better than that of Lee Changho. You can download a large number of his games at http://www.go4go. net/english/byplayer2.jsp?player=3D125 . &nbsp ; - Bill Cobb, from reports in Go World #102, www.gogameworld.com , www.go4go.net, http:/ /igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html, Sensei' s Library.

FOR SALE, Go Board, Bowls & Stones. Kaya wood board; Mas ame, Shihomasa cut, with Hand carved Kuriashi style legs. Stones: Hyuga&nb sp; Clam (Moon or Flower) & Nachi Guro Slate (There is a tin ge of redness in the white stones). Bowls: Aged Mulberry wood hand-turned Masame straight grain cut. The board was originally purchased in Tokyo in 1971; there are a few dings & nicks on it but it is a beautifully-graine d board. The bowls have a little bit of wear but again such a lovely grain on them. The stones are beautifully aged but sadly there are 15 missing o f the white & 6 missing of the black. Asking $2,500 US; negotiable. clivetheartist@yahoo.com for details & pix

ADULT CAMP? I' ve always wondered why Go Camp is just for kids; are there other adults out there who would be interested in being kids again and organizing our own Go Camp for grown-ups? Let David Dinhofer know at ddinhofer@msn.com

< P>INSTRUCTION, TEACHERS:

FREE LESSON: 5dan offering one free le sson on a server of your choice for potentialstudents. Contact josh at icarii@zoominternet.net for more details. (1/10)- WANTED: 14-year-old with a ranking of 17k would like a teacher to play games with, and help my game improve to shodan level. E-mail me at TarenSolther@wmconn ect.com- DIANA KOSZEGI, Hungarian 6 dan, is now offering lessons on KGS. For more information please visit diana.koszegi.hu- JOEY HU NG 8d is giving lessons on both IGS and KGS using voice chat skype. For detail, email egogames@yahoo.com Joey is also giving free lessons on K GS from 8-9P PST. (11/29)- CORNEL BURZO 6d EGF (7d AGA) is teaching online on IGS and KGS, also using skype voice chat, for pricing check http://www. golessons.com or email cornelburzo@yahoo.com (12/6)

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Articles appearing in the E-Journal represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily r eflect the official views of the American Go Association.To make nam e or address corrections, notify us at the email address below. Story sugg estions, event announcements, Letters to the Editor and other material are w elcome, subject to editing for clarity and space, and should be directed to: Editor: Chris Garlockjournal@usgo.org

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